Brazil: Soldiers blamed for killings in Rio de Janeiro slum

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‘The twisting alleys and steep steps of Providence Hill ascend relentlessly to a tree-less plaza, a place of respite, however bleak, from the drug wars and blight that have made the Rio neighborhoods known as favelas global emblems of urban dysfunction,’ reports The Times’ Patrick J. McDonnell .

‘But these days the concrete park offers no peace, for it is here that three young men were snatched away -- not by the traffickers, but by the troops who had been deployed here to protect the people of Providence Hill.’

‘Eleven soldiers have been arrested and accused of detaining the men at the plaza in June and turning them over to thugs in the rival Mineira Hill favela, authorities say. The troops were trying to ‘scare’ the unruly young men, according to subsequent testimony. Instead, the three turned up dead in a vast trash heap on the edge of town, shot dozens of times, their bodies badly disfigured.’

Click here to read the rest of the report on the killings in a Rio de Janeiro slum.

— Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

For more on Brazil, click here.